Reviews By Damon Moudry

#101 Pilot – Review
#110 The Balance – Review

#101 Pilot – Review

Written by Damon Moudry (ETAmerican)

INTRODUCTION

I want to welcome fellow Roswell fans to what I hope will be an ongoing series of fun, entertaining and hopefully educational articles about the show that is near and dear to all of our hearts. My name is The ETAmerican (Extra Terrestrial American), aka Damon Moudry, and I will be working closely with JerryD and the others at Crashdown.com to bring you the best news, information, and analysis of Roswell’s weekly episodes and its stars.

My column will focus on the technical aspects of Roswell such as the acting, lighting, editing, camera shots and other elements while JerryD will comment on the stories told each week. But that doesn’t mean our seemingly different worlds won’t ever cross like Max and Liz’s did (but hopefully, neither of us will have to heal the other after being shot in gaudy alien theme fast food joint, but that’s a whole other story). In fact, they will often overlap and it’s my intent to help you become smarter viewers when you not only watch Roswell, but other films and TV programs as well.

ROSWELL STARTS OFF WITH A BANG
AND TEEN SHOWS WILL NEVER BE THE SAME AGAIN

There is a theory that states the universe started with a Big Bang: a collision of randomly moving particles and gaseous matter collided and exploded into the organized chaos we call the universe.

The true can be said of the pilot episode of Roswell.

High school student Max Evans (Jason Behr) is the strong, silent type. He has loved fellow class mate Liz Parker (Shiri Appleby) from afar since the third grade. Their worlds collide when the small bang from a pistol fired by two feuding customers strikes Liz and becomes a big bang when Max comes to her rescue and miraculously heals her with a wave of his hand. By doing this, he risks exposing his extra terrestrial origins and that of his sister, Isabel (Katherine Heigl), and long time friend Michael Guerin (Brendan Fehr) in the process.

The majority of the pilot is the investigation by the town sheriff, James Valenti (William Sadler), into why Liz seemingly survived a fatal gun shot wound, and these scenes are well done and the tension never lets up. But I think the scene that really makes the biggest bang in this episode is the one that forgoes all the chaos surrounding the aliens struggle to keep their secret, and address the more human issue of “opposites attract”. Roswell cleverly manipulates this particular aspect and multiplies it a hundred fold by making star-crossed lovers Liz and Max from different species… but who actually have more in common than they can possibly imagine.

And this is the key to almost every romantic movie, or TV show ever made. Opposites attract is just the surface. It’s what lies beneath those layers that really matters, and it is where the characters gradually form their attractions and make their emotional connections. The process of peeling away those layers to find those connections is the point of the show or movie. By the end, both characters should realize that they have the same needs and fears, even if it is not blatantly apparent to them.

This simple act of peeling away the layers was given the ultimate twist and raised to a new plateau when Max exchanged memories and emotions with Liz via a “Vulcan Mind Meld” when he let Liz see the way he felt about her through his eyes and vice versa. This speaks to the basic fear of “bearing your soul” and “don’t you ever wish he/she could see how much I really care about them,” and is by far the most powerful scene in the entire episode.

The intimate nature of the scene is conveyed through every single aspect and movement — It is shot in extreme close-up; Max has to physically touch the side of Liz’s face in a pseudo-loving embrace as they stare longingly into each other’s eyes — To the use of Sarah MacLaughlan’s beautifully haunting tune, “Fear,” in the background set to slow motion flashback images of Max walking by Liz in the halls, unaware he is looking at her.

This one scene single handedly addressed not only adolescent fears, but the ageless need to make a connection with the one person whom will love us unconditionally. It also single handedly raised the bar on other teen shows and it will be a hard act to follow.

If it weren’t for the Big Bang, none of us would be here. And if it wasn’t for that small bang which nearly killed Liz Parker, Max Evans would not have been compelled to save her, and the resulting chaos in Roswell would be non-existent. But thanks to executive producers Jason Katims (“My So-Called Life”) and David Nutter (“X-Files”), and there understanding of universal struggles, the well orchestrated chaos which has resulted will be felt for many eons to come as other shows try and follow in their successful wake. However, we may have to wait until the next Big Bang to see if the competition has risen to the challenge. Anybody see my universe creation kit again?

Damon Moudry is a represented screenwriter who is skilled in dramatic story development and various technical aspects of the film making process. Please send comments, concerns or complaints to damon@fanforum.com

#110 The Balance – Review

Written by Damon Moudry (ETAmerican)

INTRODUCTION

TAKE A STEP BACK AND YOU’LL BE SURPRISED AT WHAT YOU SEE.

“Sometimes you have to take a step back to see what’s really going on.” When Max Evans uttered those fateful words in the episode “Balance” (12.15.99) he proceeded to not only break Liz Parker’s heart, but those of Roswell fans all over the world. However, in terms of what made Balance such a stand-out episode, Max unwittingly unlocked the key which producers Jason Katmis and David Nutter (“My So-Called Life,” “The X-Files”) have used time and time again to produce compelling television series: Special and visual effects should enhance a story and not tell it.

Although populated with more special and visual effects than previous episodes, Balance managed to effectively use them to bring the closeness, tough choices, and unspoken bond the characters have to the forefront. Balance also incorporated a number of other techniques in terms of directing, editing and sound mixing which only added to the impact of the special and visual effects when they were on screen.

Take for instance the Liz and Max date scenes. They incorporated a lot of close-ups to emphasize intimacy. The director also decided to use a lot of hand-held shots to emphasize the natural flow/chemistry between Max and Liz. The vocal song by Third Eye Blind only added to their characters getting closer as it was an up-tempo song, and is usually what you associate with dates and having a good time.

In contrast to Max and Liz, the Michael, River Dog and Eddie scenes at the sweat lodge were mostly shot through the fire and this helped to convey a sense of heat and disorientation to those scenes, and more importantly, to Michael’s character as he undergoes the change. The lighting of these scenes was almost completely natural (the fire) which contrasted the other characters locations such as the pool hall and Crashdown. Again, it was a sense of disorientation and urgency versus grounded reality.

The heart of Balance was of course the crucial healing scene in the cave where River Dog, Max, Liz, Isabel, Maria, and Alex perform the healing ritual on Michael who has spun a cocoon around himself.

The cocoon itself was a very effective special effect (anything that enhances the story that can physically be on a set like prosthetic makeup, or bullet holes in walls is considered a special effect) because it was able to tap into our basic universal knowledge, and let our mind do most of the work. We’ve all seen butterfly cocoons, and cotton spider webs during Halloween, so it was easy for us to believe that Michael was changing into something unnatural. As the saying goes: cheap, but effective.

The scenes in the cave itself were very low lit (by torches) and the colors very bland such as the sandy floor and surrounding walls. This helped convey the fact that the ritual was very old, perhaps old as the Earth itself. Also, all of the characters except Liz were dressed in dark colors which made Liz’s isolation that more apparent when she wasn’t able to participate in the ritual because of her doubts. In addition, the score (the instrumental music played in the background) was also very effective because it was soothing, yet almost like an anthem conveying a quiet struggle. This was in fact my favorite part about Balance: the score used in the cave scene. Very reminiscent of Has Zimmer’s (“Days of Thunder”), or Mark Snow’s (“X-Files”) music.

The part of the healing ritual where we are taken into “the other realm” used a lot of visual effects (things that have to be done to the footage of the actors during editing). What was most effective though was that even though we were bombarded with quick flashes of light, strange images and symbols, and even warped footage of the actors, it focused on the main characters and the bond they share with one another by having the characters physically reach out for Michael. By grounding us with familiar images (the actors) we could easily make the connection between reaching out to help someone as the characters reached into the realm to bring Michael back. Again, very simple, but most effective.

So, take a step back and find your balance? Indeed. If you do this you will see that even though Balance is full of special and visual effects, most of them were not that special at all. The most special thing about Balance was the shared universal connections that the story was able to draw upon and between character and audience as they all worked through a crisis to save one of their own. And that is something no amount of computer generated visuals or fake cocoons could ever do by themselves.

River Dog said, “The Balance can draw you in. It’s a force that can change both your body and your mind. Unless you navigate it properly,” and he was absolutely right. But what he didn’t know is that navigating each week’s episode isn’t as hard as you might think now that you know what to look for, is it? Now go… And may the Balance be with you.